Although the arrival of a baby brings much excitement, it also has its fair share of challenges. Nurturing babies can be pretty demanding, especially during their early days in life, where you will be faced with exhaustion and sleeplessness.
One of the ways you are always tired during this stage is because of the baby’s inability to sleep or waking up at intervals and crying. If your baby can sleep, you, too, will have the time to sleep. Here are the 10 best ways to help your baby sleep better. With these guidelines, you can help your baby sleep better, and sleep is essential for the baby’s proper development and for your well-being as a parent.
10 Best Ways To Help Your Baby Sleep Better
Here are the 10 best ways to help your baby sleep better that you can implement daily.
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1. Establish an Ideal Sleep Environment
Establishing an ideal sleep environment for your baby involves recreating a comforting womb-like setting that is devoid of external noise and light disturbances. To create a perfect sleep environment for your baby, ensure you turn off the light and every gadget that makes sounds. You can try out soothing sounds and see how your baby reacts to it. If your baby sleeps under soothing music, you can incorporate it by playing it anytime you want to put the baby to sleep. Also, you can use a white noise machine to drown out background noises that may disrupt sleep.
2. Create a Consistent Sleep Routine
Research has shown that creating a consistent sleep routine is one of the most fundamental strategies for promoting better sleep for babies. It is recommended that about 30 minutes before bedtime, you should lower noise levels and dim the lights, as this helps regulate the baby’s internal clock. Manipulating lighting is especially significant, as it aids in syncing the baby’s circadian rhythm. Dimming lights at night and exposing the baby to bright light in the morning contribute to this process.
In addition to this, you can introduce calming rituals such as a warm bath, soothing nursery rhymes, lullabies, or softly spoken stories that can further enhance the bedtime routine. It is essential you start this routine early, at least from 6 to 8 weeks of age, and maintain consistency in the sequence of activities each night.
3. Encourage Your Baby to Have Daytime Naps
One of the best ways to help your baby sleep better is by encouraging your baby to nap during the daytime. Adequate daytime naps can improve nighttime sleep. Ensuring your child gets enough rest is crucial for promoting better sleep patterns. Contrary to common belief, attempting to extend nighttime sleep by skipping naps or keeping a baby awake longer often backfires.
A baby’s optimal awake period at around 2 months is only about 90 minutes between naps. This talks about the need for frequent rest periods during the day. It’s essential to be mindful of the clock since discerning your baby’s fatigue cues can be challenging. Follow your baby’s natural sleep cues and encourage naps in a consistent and quiet environment.
4. Implement Safe Sleep Practices
Implementing safe sleep practices is one of the best ways to help your baby sleep better. Ensure you carefully follow safe sleep guidelines recommended by pediatricians, such as placing your baby on their back to sleep, using a firm mattress with a fitted sheet, and avoiding soft bedding, pillows, and toys in the crib. Using the wrong type of bedding can make them restless, so they won’t be able to sleep properly. Ensure the baby’s bedding is safe, and the appropriate one suitable for babies.
5. Feed Your Baby Adequately
There is an interconnectedness between sleep and nutrition. During the initial 8 weeks, it’s recommended that a baby be fed on demand every two to three hours. If the baby is adequately fed during the day, the baby will sleep for a long duration at night.
6. Establish an Early Bedtime and Stick to It
While looking for the best ways to help your baby sleep better, you should understand that timing holds equal importance alongside establishing a routine. As infants reach a few months of age, they experience an increase in melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone released by the body to signal sleep onset. This indicates that your baby is primed for an early bedtime. Delaying bedtime can lead to overstimulation, making it more challenging to settle them down.
Melatonin levels typically rise around sunset, yet the timing of sundown varies, depending on the climatic conditions. To optimize success, it is advised you put your baby to bed between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., irrespective of the external lighting conditions.
7. Try Out Swaddling
Swaddling effectively curbs startle reflexes that could disrupt your baby’s sleep, so it is something that you should try exploring. To get the best swaddling technique for your baby, try experimenting with various swaddling techniques, such as snug wraps like the Miracle Blanket or styles like the Swaddle Up. Persistence and adjustments in swaddling approaches are necessary, but you must ensure safety measures are adhered to, specifically concerning the baby’s ability to roll over.
8. Encourage Self-Soothing
Teaching your baby to self-soothe by putting them down to sleep when drowsy but still awake is one of the best ways to help your baby sleep better. This allows them to learn to fall asleep independently, and this can significantly reduce nighttime awakenings.
9. Limit Stimulating Activities Before Bed
Minimize screen time, noise, light, and stimulating activities close to bedtime. Instead, go for calming activities that promote relaxation. Additionally, it involves lowering the volume of your phone or putting it in silence.
10. Be Responsive but Gradually Less Intervening
This point entails responding promptly to your baby’s needs during the night but gradually encouraging longer stretches of sleep by allowing them to self-soothe before intervening. This is not to check up on your baby any time they wake up to cry at night. As the child grows, from 4 to 6 months, you can gradually start giving them time to self-soothe.
Conclusion
By implementing these 10 best ways to help your baby sleep better, you can significantly improve your baby’s sleep quality while ensuring your well-being as a parent. Establishing an optimal sleep environment, maintaining a consistent bedtime routine, and encouraging daytime naps are foundational steps. Adhering to safe sleep practices and ensuring adequate feeding contribute to better sleep patterns. Furthermore, establishing an early bedtime and exploring techniques like swaddling and self-soothing can further enhance sleep quality. Finally, minimizing stimulating activities before bed and gradually encouraging self-soothing responses aid in fostering longer sleep stretches.
